Nerd Herd Does D&D (Actual title TBD)

I haven't been good about updating the party...

3 goddesses of Fate. One missing. Big mechanical city is all that's left (probably) after the planet got more or less eaten by this otherworldly force (the Hunger).

Corrupt nobles run by 2 gods of chaos (who were the goddess kidnappers). they're trying to steal her control over magic to gain power and ascend back to god-hood.

Nobles stole power over the city when the resources of the university & main temple were depleted after fighting off the hunger. Temple clerics working w/ the previously-shady underground (literally) thieves'/ assassins' guild to support the common folk who are being trampled by the nobles now.

Characters randomly chosen to go through the goddesses' trial to be a group to save the missing one from the gods-trapped-as-humans.

* The university has also been closed & barred off from access

So far the party has: Run the gauntlet and passed, gone to a library to get info on the chaos gods, navigated a labyrinth to retrieve a relic (wand of webs – wasn't actually very exciting), infiltrated a nobles' masquerade party & Resuced a noble lady by marriage from certain death, and helped out the thieves' guild by stopping a crazy wizard-baker and his Nutella golem.

Ozzie made some connections with a noble (attempted flirting), and the group discovered that the leader of the nobles is one of the chaos gods. The lady (Rysanna) they rescued married into the nobles & was being persecuted due to her sister (Midnight) who has connections to the kidnapped goddess

Supposedly, Midnight has an amulet in which the goddess sealed away a lot of her power, knowing that these chaos gods would come for it sooner or later.

Midnight used to hang with seedy bunches- the thieves, gamblers, ruffians, etc. of the city, so the group went to talk to the leader of the guild (Ozzie's boss) in order to get any info on her whereabouts- fought the golem/ wizard in exchange for the information.

Info on the Celestials involved:

The patrons of the city/ university are the 3 fates- keepers of order, magic, and time. (through there are other temples in town, these are the main ones)

the 3 fates are Istus (the weaver) the Raven Queen (the cutter) and Mystra (the spinstress). Mystra is the one that was kidnapped.

The 2 chaos gods are Talos (storms) and Bane (tyrrany). they have more or less started a cult amongst the nobles that took over the City. Both are stuck in human form after being banished for trying to usurp the other gods. One of them was the host of the masquerade the party attended, and he is known here as Lord Kozah. They were thrown out of the pantheon in the last celestial war, so its forbidden to worship them. that's why they gathered this cult of nobles to act as their followers.

A Messy Recap of the first session

Party woke up in a sealed black marble room. Each got a pendant that gave some sort of boon to their checks. Had to run a gauntlet of 5 parts: Mind, Body, Magic, Trust, Machine. Had to complete the first 4 to get keys to unlock Machine. Cleric unconscious at end, all passed out, woke up in the Temple to the Clerics of the Fates fixing them up. First random group of mortals to survive/ successfully complete the gauntlet. Clerics suddenly peace out, avatars of Istus & RQ appear and ask the party to help them rescue their sister fate Mystra from the gods that have kidnapped her. Bestowed on each player a gift. Gifts are powerful, but do have negative side effects when in use.

Cleric- Techno-mancy Bat Wings: While wearing this cloak, you can use an action to speak its Command Word. This turns the cloak into a pair of bat wings on your back for 1 hour or until you repeat the Command Word as an action. The wings give you a flying speed of 60 feet. When they disappear, you can't use them again for 1d12 hours.

Wizard – Wand of Binding. Looks like riding crop, temporarily changes alignment to chaotic neutral. This wand has 7 Charges for the following properties. It regains 1d6 + 1 expended Charges daily at dawn. If you expend the wand's last charge, roll a d20. On a 1, the wand crumbles into ashes and is destroyed. <u>Spells</u>: While holding the wand, you can use an action to expend some of its Charges to cast one of the following Spells (save DC 17): Hold Monster (5 charges) or Hold Person (2 charges). <u>Assisted Escape</u>: While holding the wand, you can use your reaction to expend 1 charge and gain advantage on a saving throw you make to avoid being Paralyzed or Restrained, or you can expend 1 charge and gain advantage on any check you make to escape a grapple.

Rogue: Boots of Levitation & Gauntlets of Wind. Loud, mechanical, brightly painted (Red and gold) allow flight & some magic, disadvantage to stealth checks though for the mech noises. Both good for 15 min @ a time w/ a 6 hr recharge. <u>Gust of Wind</u>: A line of strong wind 60 feet long and 10 feet wide blasts from you in a direction you choose for the spell's Duration. Each creature that starts its turn in the line must succeed on a Strength saving throw or be pushed 15 feet away from you in a direction following the line. Any creature in the line must spend 2 feet of Movement for every 1 foot it moves when moving closer to you. The gust disperses gas or vapor, and it extinguishes candles, torches, and similar unprotected flames in the area. It causes protected flames, such as those of lanterns, to dance wildly and has a 50 percent chance to extinguish them. As a Bonus Action on each of your turns before the spell ends, you can change the direction in which the line blasts from you. <u>Levitation</u>: rise vertically, up to 20 feet, and remain suspended there for the Duration (15 min). The spell can levitate a target that weighs up to 500 pounds. You can move only by pushing or pulling against a fixed object or surface within reach (such as a wall or a ceiling), which allows it to move as if it were climbing (Or with the gauntlets). You can change the altitude by up to 20 feet in either direction on your Turn. When the spell ends, you float gently to the ground if still aloft.

Ranger: <u>Cloak of Displacement</u>: While you wear this cloak, it projects an Illusion that makes you appear to be standing in a place near your actual location, causing any creature to have disadvantage on Attack rolls against you. If you take damage, the property ceases to function This property is suppressed while you are Incapacitated, Restrained, or otherwise unable to move. 1/ day & <u>Amulet of the Planes</u>: While wearing this Amulet, you can use an action to name a location that you are familiar with on another plane of existence. Then make a DC 15 Intelligence check. On a successful check, you cast the Plane Shift spell. On a failure, you and each creature and object within 15 feet of you travel to a random destination. Roll a d100. On a 1-60, you travel to a random location on the plane you named. On a 61-100, you travel to a randomly determined plane of existence. 1/day

Location: Capital City, Eironn (Probably the only place left)

The Capital is a tiered city topped by 2 intertwined temples- They are for Istus and the Raven Queen, the goddesses of universal order/ time and death respectively. Istus knits the fabric of space-time and the Raven Queen ensures the natural order and cycle of life and death. Both are mostly concerned about the balance of the universe, and thus don’t actually have a large religious following, rather just some clerics that tend to the temples and such.

Directly below that is tier with the academy (Institute of Planar Research and Exploration a.k.a IPRE) and the nobles’ houses. Next is the middle level with the markets, artisans, and shops. Below that is housing & inns/ pubs for workers and commoners, and at the very bottom, in the underground network of clockwork and piping that runs the city are the poor, homeless, and the sewers. The city itself is a giant, clockwork and steam contraption where each tier spins individually around a central axis. This means that the gates to pass between tiers only line up and open a few times per day, severely limiting the amount of interaction between the different tiers.

As far as you know, this city might have been the only one that survived the war with the Darkness. Most just call it “The Hunger” since it devoured everything it touched with its inky blackness, sapping all the color, life, and magic from the world. Things have only just now, years later, started to grow colored again, and only in the plains directly outside the city. A couple of farms have started to pop up here and there wherever the land was protected by the shield.

The shield was a collaboration between the IPRE Academy and the temples. They were able to create a sphere of protection originating at the top of the temples, and spreading over the city to prevent the Hunger from making it to the city. Eironn was lucky in this sense- the inherent technomancy of the city’s construction, fueled by the IPRE members and clerics allowed for the rapid development of the shield. Unfortunately, it sapped their resources, and the influx of refugees and the chaos of was completely transformed the city from its previous state as the gleaming bastion of innovation and luxury that it once was.

Before the war, the city was run by IPRE and the the temples. But, after their battle with the Hunger depleted their resources, control of the city was seized by a council of nobles who seek only to increase their own power and militant strength, regardless of the effects of their actions on others. The clerics have been more or less confined to the temples, and much of the academy is being forced into development of military resources.